With Total Viewers Sliding To 7 Year Lows, Is CNBC Fading Into Obscurity?

In the past 24 hours, some readers have been surprised to learn that as Jeff Reeves of InvestorPlace states, total Q2 CNBC viewership as calculated by Nielsen, has tumbled to to the lowest it has been since Q3 2005. This merely confirms that the trendline in our periodic observations of CNBC traffic was more than merely seasonal or VIX-related: it has been one long secular decline, peaking in the quarter of Lehman's demise and down hill ever since.

Reeves focuses on some specifics:

Squawk Box (6-9 a.m.) is supposed to prime traders before the bell. The show posted its lowest rated its time block since Q4 2006.

The Closing Bell (3-5 p.m.) is supposed to wrap up the day’s action. The slot posted its fifth-lowest rating in total viewers and second-lowest ratings in the key 25-54 demographic since 1997.

Fast Money (5-6 p.m.) is focused almost specifically on swing trading stocks. That time slot showed the lowest rating for the 25-54 demo since 1997 — and lowest in total viewers since Fast Money launched in 2006.

Yet none of the above compares to the Nielsen-sourced data Zero Hedge compiled showing CNBC viewerships since the beginning of 2004.

The chart speaks thousands of words about the shrinking viewer engagement with either CNBC the financial news station, or CNBC the financial news station.

What the clearly chart shows is that despite occasional risk flaring episodes, and a general preponderance of either 'good news' or 'bad news' regimes, the prevailing trendline is one of anti-Gartman proportions: from top left to bottom right.

Reeves attempts to give some explanations of his own explaining this troubling for Comcast trend:

It must be noted that it’s not their fault the market is miserable, and bad ratings don’t necessarily reflect bad shows. After all, we don’t blame builders like Pulte or Lennar for causing the housing crisis with poorly made homes.

It’s also worth noting that many cable networks are experiencing a viewership drain as many younger folks take their eyeballs to the Internet — and CNBC is hardly ignoring the move to online content. Its website gets some 8 million unique visitors every month, and a shrewd partnership with Yahoo! is teaming up the megasite Yahoo Finance with CNBC to tap into an even more massive chunk of the financial media audience.

But for whatever reason, investors are tuning out CNBC on their TV sets. That’s further proof that the market is jaded, that volume will remain low in the summer and that most investors are scared or nervous about what to do next.

Zero Hedge being Zero Hedge will add one more: perhaps CNBC's viewers have gotten tired of getting just one side of the newsflow: the always rosy, and over the past 5 years, always wrong one.

Which also explains the growth of alternative financial media venues: those unconstrained in the type of data they can report on and analyze. More importantly: those unconstrained by what producers scream in their earpiece. In retrospect, they have much to be grateful to CNBC for- if for whatever reason the financial channel was not hemorrhaging eyeballs, there would be no new captive audience to, well, capture.

Finally, whatever the reason for the endless bleed in CNBC viewership one thing we can be sure of: the advertisers - that lifeblood of every media outlet - are certainly not happy.

Jim Cramer is completely unwatchable. Good thing they have in on 3-4 times a day...and put him in the late Mark Haines seat. Yikes. Someone seriously needs to ask the board at COMCAST...what's the plan here? And someone from the board should seriously recommend that Cramer get himself on Abilify immediately.

And the screaming thing on that network...good grief. It is as if they are trying to make up for a complete lack of content and understanding of the current shit stew markets by YELLING ALL THE TIME [Sullivan, Wapner, Cramer]. What the hell is going on at that place, seriously?

And please...for God's sake...someone just tell Joe Teranova to stop getting backwards every day on every trade. I literally wince every time that guy makes a call.

You got your Closing Bell segment tanking real hard ever since Maria "sexiest hair alive" Bartiromo simply lost all curiousity about things...faithfully putting on the bull/bull debate for every final hour of the market session, along with Bill "I should have stayed retired" Griffith. Painful.

Not only is everything on the network completely useless to a trader, the whole broadcasting day is just getting more and more unwatchable. So...COMCAST...you overpaid to become majority shareholder of this mess...what the F are you going to do? Might I suggest....SOMETHING?

For years, yes. More recently...I tossed my tv in the dumpster, finally. However, I have a CNBC stream now...and sometimes watch...until, like I said, the pain of it just causes me to shut it down. It is crazy painful to watch.

Mainstream gals are not very talented -ever since Hollywood ws taken over by the hebes, most girls had to suck a lot of old geezer cock and sleep their way to the top-same way for young studs. Alternative media allows nice, talented girls the opportunity to be successful.

One does have to laugh at how the camera always starts under the table on her [grrrreat] legs ... then pans up to whatever else is happening. LOL ... even RT knows what viewers really want from a financial news program.

At one point I thought I should become a daytrader so that I could sit on my ass and stare at screens all early morning and afternoon in PST, and be out skateboarding at 2pm by market close in NY. Further research showed me that I stood no chance against the evil genius Russian algorithms and seasoned real-person traders and sitch,

But anyway, the the moral of the story is that it was about the only time in my life I watched CNBC, when I performed a two-day trial of being a daytrader. And holy shit dude, the entire time it was so annoying... how do people stand watching that garbage?

CNBC is anathema to a day trader. I don't even turn that shit on. Bullshit and misdirection is all it is. I have a favorite blog I tune into during the day because there are real traders there, posting their trades or at least their analysis of the market all day long. I would quit day trading, like you did, if CNBC was my source of market information.

Daneric's Elliott Waves. Lots of wavers but also many other TA's with alternate viewpoints. There are some very sharp people who comment throughout the day. Also some idiots, but they're easy to identify and ignore.

Santelli is the ONLY reason I still watch CNBC. In my opinion CNBC views are leaving is the LEFTIST lean... AND obviously in bed with the DNC! Look at MSNBC, CNN, NY Times, et al... Numbers are crap and losing $$$.

I still have it on in the background though almost daily -- but ALWAYS while I'm also reading ZH postings. I feel like I make better decsions by know both the "truth" that the sheeple are being fed and the 'truth' that is ZH.

In the interest of being fair and balanced, I think it's important for ZHers to understand that television viewers have been in decline at ALL stations, especially at News Corpse - that disgustingly partisan, vile, tabloid hack operation where bobble-headed carnival barkers disguised as reputable news anchors feign faux outrage and drum up faux McCarthyism-style garbage to gullible, narrow-minded, easily angered conservatives who are bitterly mad that a NIGGER-HITLER is living in their WHITE house. "I WANT MY COUNTRY BACK!"

Last month, the prime time Nielson ratings had Faux News at their lowest level since 2008 with a 20% decline in the all important 18-49 age bracket. ABC was down 21%. CBS and NBC were only down 8% and 3% respectively. CNN, who pioneered the 24 hour news station, has been on a terminal decline for years. Executives at all stations are looking for excuses, everything from the DVR to the distractions of social media to the internet in general. Whatever the reason, TV viewers are in decline across the ENTIRE SPECTRUM of channels. The decline at CNBC is no different than anywhere else.

- you are out to lunch! I have relatives working at CNN and it is very bad. The Uber Left has CBS,NBC, ABC, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN and they are dying just like Greece. I watch CNBC and have written them about the UBer left hitmen! They all go to the same failed economic church!

formerly addicted to Cramer? Even the crack addict dope fiends look down on your type. Good luck in your recovery. Your odds are very good -truth, reality and honesty will usually get you off that bad habit for good.

And it's not just because of technology - although that has greased the guillotine. It's because nobody believes a fucking thing they "report" anymore. And they can throw all the tits and ass they want at the screen - it's over.

They are replaying the demise of the porno mags. Sure, they were good when that's all we had. But when the technology allowed real people to challenge their bullshit, all the hard dicks left.